A While Later...
The tavern was noisy, filled with bustling crowds, loud laughter, and the clatter of mugs. People came and went in waves like restless tides, but at one particular table near the rear, an eerie calm had taken root.....like time itself refused to move.
At that table sat Yu Sui and Wey Xiong.
Despite the noise all around, it was as if silence wrapped itself like fog around their space. The only sound that dared to break that silence was Wey Xiong's soft whisper, a thread of truth weaving through danger.
Yu Sui's sword lay silently beside him on the table....silent, patient... yet thirsty for blood.
He sipped his wine, his sharp eyes trained on nothing and everything at once, his posture relaxed but poised. He was listening.
"Master…" Wey Xiong's voice was low, laced with tension. "You were right. He's moving exactly as you predicted…"
Yu Sui didn't flinch.
He had always known.
Some truths didn't need confirmation.
His face was carved like a warrior's.....strong, unreadable. But buried somewhere deep, a forgotten part of him still longed. Still waited. Still ached. For someone. For him.
Yet no one could tell. His face stayed frozen like cold steel.
And then.....softly, with a tenderness that didn't belong in such a face.....Yu Sui asked,
"Where are they?"
Wey Xiong didn't speak. He gave a few discreet hand signs instead.
But his face had gone pale.
As if his soul had just seen the shadow of a coming storm.
Yu Sui reached for his sword.
And rose.
Wey Xiong followed.
---
Moments later…
They were walking side by side through the market.....passing stalls, crowds, performers. But Yu Sui's mind was elsewhere.
He remembered.
This market.
This noise.
This sunlight.
In a market somewhere before .....he and Mo Yan had once laughed together under this very sky, made silver coins through small tricks and stolen glances.
They passed a stall.
Hair ornaments.
One in particular....a beautiful white silk tassel, with intricate floral embroidery....caught his eye.
For a moment, Yu Sui stopped.
A memory tugged at his heart.
It would suit Mo Yan. Perfectly.
He looked at it...
And walked on.
Because he believed:
"To protect him... I must stay away."
Even if it killed him inside.
But behind him, Wey Xiong had seen it.
With a soft, secret smile, he quietly bought the tassel and hid it inside his robe.....like a child buying something for their mother for the first time. He looked so innocent, so pure... as he walked again beside his master.
---
Suddenly…
The wind turned.
A tremor ran through the sky.
The Twin Phoenixes, who had been circling high above, let out a long, piercing cry...a cry only Yu Sui could understand.
Everyone in the crowd looked up, startled. The phoenixes flapped their wings aggressively, circling over Yu Sui's head.
Those from the Hei Lin San Sect stopped in their tracks.
They knew this sign.
"A soul is about to fall."
And it would fall…
At the hands of their master.